Training Year Ending 2003



"SwStudio" <[email protected]> writes:
> 1. How many miles/kilometres did you run this year?

Probably under 300. I've been focusing more on short distance and sprints since 2002. Not distance.

> 2. What were your highest and lowest mileage weeks?

This past week.

> 3. What was your longest run?

29 miles, broken up into running and walking intervals, counting the 3500m of sprint training done
between 13 mile sessions. Tuesday December 23.

> 4. How many (if at all) races did you enter?

2 sprint races.

> 5. What were your best and worst race performances?

Both were worst. Started out too fast, burned and crashed. The most recent race, 300m, was probably
a 100m split like (13+12+18) or even (12+12+19).

The last 100m was run with a partial loss of vision, a partial loss of consciousness, and a partial
loss of control over the leg muscles, so was probably around 18 seconds or worse.

The whole race was run cold, 1 1/2 months out of any training.

> 6. Do you have a favorite, memorable run that you did this year?

Early September, plowing through the Harley crowd upwards of 20-25 MPH, doing consecutive 200m
sprint intervals over 6.5 miles.

> 7. What was the craziest weather you endured while running?

Anything under 70 degrees F.

> 8. What were your goals for 2003?

Breaking 25 seconds for the 200m, 50 seconds for the 400m and
5:00 for the mile.

>Did you achieve them?

Possibly (for the 200m). Not yet for the others.

> 9. What are your goals for 2004?

In the 45-48 second range for the 400m by the summer; 4:30 range for the mile.

>10. Do you have a favorite running-related quote to share?

(In relation to "freedom-loving" motorcyclists, while hitting a 20 MPH uphill stride): It don't
count if the machine's doing all the work for you.
 
I'm not very pleased with my running in 2003.

> 1. How many miles/kilometres did you run this year?

622.2 miles

> 2. What were your highest and lowest mileage weeks?

I had a great many 0-mile weeks. Highest was 26, back in March.

> 3. What was your longest run?

10 miles (March).

> 4. How many (if at all) races did you enter?
> 5. What were your best and worst race performances?

I ran 1 race, a 5K. My brother and I decided to do a 5k on Thanksgiving, because we did one years
ago and it was fun. Neither of us has done any speedwork in a long time; I've been working on re-
building endurance. We didn't take the race too seriously, as evident by our talking throughout the
entire thing. We finished in 24:46, which isn't bad for not having done any 5K training and for not
having run a 5K since 1996. My PR is just under 21 ... I bet I could come close to that if I did
some speedwork.

> 6. Do you have a favorite, memorable run that you did this year?

I did a 4.2 mile run with both of my brothers in June. The 3 of us haven't run together in a really
long time (if ever) so that was pretty fun.

> 7. What was the craziest weather you endured while running?

I ran in 25 mph+ winds. I got pelted with ice. I ran in a cold downpour (previous downpour runs were
in warmer weather). I also ran indoors a lot, where there is no crazy weather.

> 8. What were your goals for 2003? Did you achieve them?

To quote last year's review: "To be more consistent and not take so much time off, so as to improve
performance and so I fit into my wedding dress."

My monthly mileage totals were 16.1, 64, 93, 39.4, 52, 40.05, 3.25, 24.65,
623.4, 85.95, 101.9 and 88.5. I don't consider those to be very consistent totals. Overall, I didn't
take as much time off as I did in 2002, but there was still way too much time off. And despite
spending 2 hours in the gym 5-6x a week in the spring, I didn't lose the 5 pounds I wanted to
lose before my wedding. My dress fit and I looked fine, but I know I should've been lighter.

Also from last year's review: "To run 1, maybe 2, marathons. Race a better half-marathon. Maybe race
my first 5k since 1996."

I did accomplish the 5k goal. But I didn't run a half, and I DNS'd my marathon. I entered Twin
Cities, but due to my erratic training I decided it was in my best interest to not even attempt it.
I learned a very important lesson that I hope to never need again: marathon training and wedding
preparation are a bad combination!

> 9. What are your goals for 2004?

Just like last year: be more consistent, not take so much time off, and run 1, maybe 2, marathons
this year. I also want to run a 20 or 25k this spring. I want to run a non-crappy half-marathon in
August. I'd also like to race a 5k in June. Other goals include maintaining the weight loss that I
accomplished this fall - I'm lighter than I was in high school (when I was in awesome shape)!

marisa
 
Total of 3972km in 2003.

Biggest week 150km - smallest several weeks without running.

Longest run 45km.

Raced 4 times, best was 2:55 in adverse conditions at the Sydney marathon. Worst were two
indifferent efforts (1:23) at 21.1k .

Worst weather was 35C & humid when had to do the 9k home as fast as I could to be there at the
promised time.

Most memorable training run was a twilight run with kilometres of empty beach ahead and a howling
southerly behind me - felt like flying.

Main goal for 2003 was a sub-3 marathon which I achieved, with the bonus of 2/223 in my age group.

Only 2004 goal is 4:10 on six foot track in March.

Andrew
 
In article <[email protected]>,
SwStudio <[email protected]> wrote:
>Greetings, rec.runners!
>
>
>1. How many miles/kilometres did you run this year?

1,864 miles.

I had been trying to equal or exceed 2003 in keeping with a pattern I've maintained for several
years now, but it was not to be this year. Sometime in August I started having trouble with the
right achilles and the problem worsened through the Fall as I stubbornly tried to run through it.
About the first week in December it dawned on me that I was faced with two choices: continue to run
until the achilles ruptured, followed by surgery and 6 months of rehab; or, take some time off. Put
that way the choice seemed clear.

I haven't run in 5 weeks, but the achilles is much better. I figure 2 more weeks and I should be
able to mix in a little treadmill running with my other training. In the meantime I've tried to
cross train at a level comparable to what I was doing as a runner on achilles friendly aerobic
equipment. Having found that a 6 mile run on the treadmill normally burned about 800 Kcal, I try to
burn the some number each day on a variety of devices (with a 1330 Kcal "long run" on Saturday,)
calories being a language common to all of them.

In the hope that others facing similar layoffs may find the information useful, here are a few
comments about the workouts I do on these machines:

1) Precor EFX (elliptical trainer). At first I found the scurrying gait and lack of ground effect
annoying, but I have rather come to enjoy this machine. The ability to go into reverse
occasionally provides some welcome diversion and there are many parameters you can vary to tailor
the workout. I try to keep my cadence at 180 SPM or above and use a modest resistance setting of
10-12. (I have no idea what those numbers mean.) I gradually increase the crossramp from 10 up to
18 or so. (Crossramp has to do with the slope of the front rails, and somewhat changes the muscle
group focus.)

The machine is very popular and you usually need to sign up for half hour stints on one. They
accumulate calories at a suspiciously high rate given the effort that seems to be involved. Perhaps
this is part of the attraction. There doesn't seem to be much wisdom on the net about how to use an
EFX for serious training, nor is there evidence of any competitions involving them.

2) Concept II rowing ergometer. I was an oarsman freshman year in college, so mounting this beauty
brought back many memories, most of them unpleasant. Rowing provides an excellent workout and I
find that my times versus effort are very comparable to those in running. I try to do my usual
"speedwork" and "tempo run" workouts on the erg at the same times and distances I did on the
track and it seems to work out pretty well.

It took a few days to build up the necessary endurance in the forearms. Though you don't actually
pull very much with the arms (proper form calls for most of the thrust to come from the legs and, to
a lesser exent, the back,) the arms are the linkage through which one's effort is communicated to
the machine.

There seems to be a lot of controversy about damper settings and stroke rates. I use a low damper
(4 or so) for longer rows and a high damper (8 or 9) for speedwork. I also like to row at a pretty
high stroke rate (31-35), but most of the wisdom available on the web (and there is a lot of it!)
seems to favor much lower rates. Another number that gets bandied about a lot is 10 MPS (meters
per stroke.)

Unlike the EFX, rowers are not popular at all, which is just fine with me. I've never yet had to
wait for one. Also, there is a lot of serious use of these machines and even a world class annual
erg competition (The CrashB, for Charles River Association Has-Beens.)

3) Stationary Bike. The nice thing about this is you get to sit on your butt and it is easy to keep
your goodies (water bottle, mp3 player, ...) handy. On the other hand, this machine racks up the
calories much more slowly than the other two. My serious biking buddies tell me I should keep the
resistance at 10 or higher and my cadence at 90 or above. That seems quite comfortable, but
rapidly becomes more uncomfortable as the resistance is increased.

The only problem I've found is that I tend to go "knock kneed" when I get tired. Anybody else have
this problem?

Happy running to all! I hope to join you again in a week or so.

--
************************************************************************
Terry R. McConnell Mathematics/215 Carnegie/Syracuse, N.Y. 13244-1150 [email protected] 229B Physics
Bldg http://barnyard.syr.edu/~tmc
************************************************************************
 
>> 1. How many miles/kilometres did you run this year? <<

1019 miles, up from 958 miles last year.

>> 2. What were your highest and lowest mileage weeks? <<

35.7 miles and 7.1 miles

>> 3. What was your longest run? <<

36.8 miles

>> 4. How many (if at all) races did you enter? <<

36

>> 5. What were your best and worst race performances? <<

Best were probably my Hood-to-Coast legs; I averaged about 8:00 miles.
Worst was definitely the Dallas Half Marathon, which took me 2:30 to finish.

>> 6. Do you have a favorite, memorable run that you did this year? <<

Hood-to-Coast and the South Mountain Run in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

>> 7. What was the craziest weather you endured while running? <<

Dallas in the summer.

>> 8. What were your goals for 2003? Did you achieve them? <<

Sub-22 5K and sub-1:40 half marathon. My best 5K was 22:34; that goal is still on the board for
this year. The half marathon goal was never threatened; I'll see how things go before deciding
if that's still within reach.

>> 9. What are your goals for 2004? <<

I'll still shoot for a sub-22 5K

Mike
 
In article <[email protected]>, Andrew Taylor wrote: [snip 2003 report]

Any idea how many runs a week you averaged ? One thing I've noticed about your training is that you
do a lot of two-a-days, usually to/from work. Any thoughts on the effectiveness of this ?

For example, do you find that you need to run higher milage when you do two-a-days to get the same
benefit ? Or is it more or less all the same as long as you get in a few reasonably long (say 16km-
25km) runs per week ?

I'm asking because I'm starting to make more use of 2-a-days. I'm finding that it makes it much
easier to pack in milage this way, and it seems to take up less time for the same milage but it's
too early for me to know how effective this is.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/
 
In article <[email protected]>,
Donovan Rebbechi <[email protected]> wrote:
>Any idea how many runs a week you averaged ? One thing I've noticed about your training is that you
>do a lot of two-a-days, usually to/from work. Any thoughts on the effectiveness of this ?

My current belief is that weekly volume is the most important factor for me and that the 2 9km runs
each way to work give me almost the benefit of a single 18km run and do less damage to my body. Not
that I have a choice
- running to-and-from work is the only way I can squeeze in enough volume.

I'm not sure this is useful advice - I don't quite believe we are experiments of one but my
experience with training differs from other. The value of rest days is often emphasised but I
definitely find it easier if I'm running every day. And long (25+km) runs don't seem nearly as
important for me as others.

For what its worth my diary has 355 entries for 2003 so that's 0.97 runs per day and there were 6+
weeks where I did no running.

Andrew Taylor
 
In article <[email protected]>, Andrew Taylor wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>, Donovan Rebbechi <[email protected]> wrote:
>>Any idea how many runs a week you averaged ? One thing I've noticed about your training is that
>>you do a lot of two-a-days, usually to/from work. Any thoughts on the effectiveness of this ?
>
> My current belief is that weekly volume is the most important factor for me and that the 2 9km
> runs each way to work give me almost the benefit of a single 18km run and do less damage to my
> body. Not that I have a choice
> - running to-and-from work is the only way I can squeeze in enough volume.
>
> I'm not sure this is useful advice - I don't quite believe we are experiments of one but my
> experience with training differs from other.

Thanks for your thoughts anyway. Doing 2-a-days seems to make it easier for me to get in volume too
(though I can't really do it to/from work)

> The value of rest days is often emphasised but I definitely find it easier if I'm running
> every day.

(-; rest days work for me *now* at 60-70km/wk, but I reserve the right to change my mind if I start
running similar milage to you.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/
 
From Mark ([email protected]):
>>9. What are your goals for 2004?
>In the 45-48 second range for the 400m by the summer; 4:30 range for the mile.

Basically, the strategy I'm shooting for comes out of the table below:

400 METER TIMES Cadence (strides/minute) is on the top. Strides (per 400m) is on the left. 200 202
204 206 208 210 170 51.0 50.5 50.0 49.5 49.0 48.6 175 52.5 52.0 51.5 51.0 50.5 50.0 180 54.0 53.5
52.9 52.4 51.9 51.4 185 55.5 55.0 54.4 53.9 53.4 52.9 190 57.0 56.4 55.9 55.3 54.8 54.3 195 58.5
57.9 57.4 56.8 56.3 55.7 200 60.0 59.4 58.8 58.3 57.7 57.1

The ranges of cadences are those I usually do for the 400m. The range of strides are double those
that I've actually done for the 200m. But for the 400m, I've never gotten under 190 yet.

PR performance was in the lower 190's for strides with a cadence around 205-210, for a time around
55.5 seconds.

210 is the burnout threshold.

The improvement has to come in larger strides, which means more strength. Yesterday was at about 93-
94 strides for 200m. I'm shooting for 185 in the near term, and hopefully 170 before Summer.

>>5. What were your best and worst race performances?
>Both were worst. Started out too fast, burned and crashed. The most recent race, 300m, was probably
>a 100m split like (13+12+18) or even (12+12+19).

... which implies a cadence of at least 230-240 or more, depending on the stride -- way beyond the
210 threshold.
 
[email protected] (Andrew Taylor) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> In article <[email protected]>, Donovan Rebbechi <[email protected]> wrote:
> >Any idea how many runs a week you averaged ? One thing I've noticed about your training is that
> >you do a lot of two-a-days, usually to/from work. Any thoughts on the effectiveness of this ?
>
> My current belief is that weekly volume is the most important factor for me and that the 2 9km
> runs each way to work give me almost the benefit of a single 18km run and do less damage to my
> body. Not that I have a choice
> - running to-and-from work is the only way I can squeeze in enough volume.
>
> I'm not sure this is useful advice - I don't quite believe we are experiments of one but my
> experience with training differs from other. The value of rest days is often emphasised but I
> definitely find it easier if I'm running every day. And long (25+km) runs don't seem nearly as
> important for me as others.
>
> For what its worth my diary has 355 entries for 2003 so that's 0.97 runs per day and there were 6+
> weeks where I did no running.
>
> Andrew Taylor

Rest days aren't necessarily non-running days. But they should be easy days. Having non-running days
is a guideline for the very beginning runners.

Sounds like you have achieved a nice balance. Being able to run to/from work is a great option.

Have a great day. Ed
 
Late. The whole year was a **** for racing performance, even the high
point was a little disappointing because of lousy health and lack of
training (I reckon I could do the 240k in a lot less than 30hrs instead
of 38:30).

>1. How many miles/kilometres did you run this year?

2350 km = 1460 miles

>2. What were your highest and lowest mileage weeks?

Lowest = 0 (4 times) Highest = 250km = 155 miles

>3. What was your longest run?

123 km = 77 miles

>4. How many (if at all) races did you enter?

4 cross countries 1 relay race 4.5km = 2.8 miles 2 10km (non-competitive) 1 2-day relay race 2.3k
time trail + 15k + 19k = 1.4 + 9 + 12 miles 2 HM 1 3h race = 37 km = 20 miles 2 Marathons (non-
competitive = 3:47 & 3:53) 1 5h fund-raiser = 51km (non-competitive) 1 240km = 52k + 123k + 65k 3-
day stage race = 150 miles

>5. What were your best and worst race performances?

Best: qualifying national x-country semi-finals & finishing 240k ultra Worst: 1:32 HM in Toulouse,
when I'd done a 1:22 six months before

>6. Do you have a favorite, memorable run that you did this year?

The "Intégrale de Riquet" http://integraleriquet.free.fr/en/

>7. What was the craziest weather you endured while running?

41°C (106°F) in the shade during that same race

>8. What were your goals for 2003? Did you achieve them?

DONE
- Finishing the 240km race

NOT TRIED
- 2:50 marathon
- 0:35 10k

NOT TRIED (due to race cancellation)
- National Marathon championship race

TRIED ONCE AND FAILED MISERABLY
- 1:20 HM

>9. What are your goals for 2004?

- Sand Marathon 4/2004 (one week back-pack stage race in Sahara)
- Intégrale de Riquet 7/2004 (240km non-stop this time)
- A sub-3h marathon 10/2004 (national championships in Dunkirk)
 
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